Page 93 of One More Time
Her eyes snapped up. ‘What is there to figure out? We’ve figured it out. You’re going to Europe and I’m going to work. I can’t be there. And you can’t be here.’ Lucy slid off the bed. Went to the closet and pulled one of the hotel bathrobes from a hanger.
‘What are you doing?’ Nicky asked, his heart rate spiking.
‘It’s Sunday,’ she said softly. ‘This was only supposed to last ’til Sunday.’
‘Lucy,’ Nicky begged. ‘What do you want for the future? How does it look to you?’
Lucy exhaled roughly, slipped her feet into the hotel slippers.
‘Forget the job for a minute,’ Nicky added. ‘Beyond the job. What do you want?’
Lucy stared at her feet, breathed out long and slow. ‘I don’t know.’
Nicky followed Lucy as she left the room. Watched as she gathered her things from the floor and headed for the door. He wanted to grab her. Hold her. But he knew that it would only be detrimental to his case in the long run.
She was so scared. So scared of everything.
‘I’ll see you later?’ Nicky asked as her hand gripped the doorknob.
‘Yeah,’ she replied flatly.
Nicky could only watch Lucy walk away, and hope like hell it wouldn’t be the last time he saw her face.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
LUCY
It took about three seconds after the door to Nicky’s suite closed for Lucy to realize that she didn’t have her room key.
Three additional seconds passed and she realized that her phone and her keycard were both in the formal clutch she’d left at the table in the reception room.
It took five seconds more for Lucy to decide that she couldn’t go back to Nicky’s room and its guarantee of further conversation about unsolvable problems.
She padded down the corridor toward Kim’s door and her final opportunity to avoid a humiliating trip to the hotel lobby in a bathrobe with sex hair.
The whole stupid situation made her feel even more out of control. She was clearly failing at her forties in much the same way she’d failed at her thirties. Shit, her twenties hadn’t exactly been stellar either. But at least then she had the excuse of not being fully cooked. Lucy felt nothing likea grown-up as she slinked down the hall and knocked on Kim’s door. She felt like a damn fool.
Lucy’s knock was met with a loud clang and some grumbling.
Thank God.
Kim opened the door still in her gorgeous silk gown, mascara streaked under her eyes.
‘Damn, you okay?’ Lucy asked.
‘Might have passed out on the couch,’ Kim said, ushering Lucy in. ‘At least, I think I started on the couch. Woke up on the floor.’
Lucy went straight to the kitchen and poured a glass of water, then headed for the bathroom where she found Kim’s stash of pain relievers right where she knew they’d be.
When she got back to the living room, she found Kim sitting on the coffee table with her head in her hands.
‘Here,’ Lucy said, offering the Tylenol and water.
‘Thanks.’ Kim swallowed everything down and sighed. ‘Don’t think we’re not getting into this whole situation,’ Kim said, waving a hand at Lucy’s bathrobe. ‘Just give me a second for the room to stop spinning.’
‘Did you have fun?’ Lucy asked gently, settling herself on the couch.
‘Obviously,’ Kim quipped. ‘But they have about three more hours in ’em down there. And don’t even mention the after party. They’ll be at it till dawn. If you tell anybody this, I’ll deny it, but it turns out I’m too fucking old for an after party.’
